Guan Linzheng - Chinese Civil War

Chinese Civil War

Because of General Guan's impressive track record, he was President Chiang Kai Shek's original choice to lead the American-trained Nationalist troops to Manchuria against Communist troops under Lin Biao in 1945. However, General Chen Cheng opposed Guan's appointment as security commander of Manchuria because of the intense rivalry between the two of them, and Guan was appointed as garrison commander of Yunnan instead. On November 25, college students went on strike in Kunming to protest the resumption of the Chinese Civil War. Four days later, General Guan held a press conference and stated the government troops has the right to use force to quell the strike, and ordered the students to resume their classes. But on December 1, 1945, nationalist troops and student protestors clashed with each other and there were many casualties on both sides, Guan was made a scapegoat of the incident and resigned his command the next year. In 1947, Guan succeeded President Chiang Kai Shek as commandant of the Whampoa Military Academy, and was appointed as deputy commander-in-chief of the ROC army. In August 1949, the acting president Li Zongren appointed him as commander-in-chief of the ROC army, because Chiang Kai Shek put Guan's old rival General Chen Cheng in charge of Taiwan and greatly favored him, General Guan decided to retire in Hong Kong in that November. He formally resigned his position as commander-in-chief of the army in 1950.